Addo Elephant Park

• Addo

Deep within the shadows of the dense valley bushveld of the Sundays River region of the Eastern Cape lies the Addo Elephant National Park.

Here, the evenings are punctuated by the strident howl of the black-backed jackal, and the francolin's call heralds each new dawn. Safe from relentless persecution in the past, the grey leviathans of the bush now roam in peace.

The original Elephant section of the park was proclaimed in 1931, when only eleven elephants remained in the area - today this finely tuned ecosystem is sanctuary to over 450 elephants, Cape buffalo, black rhino, a variety of antelope species, as well as the unique flightless dung beetle, found almost exclusively in Addo. And their Addo has only just begun. with plans to expand the  164 000 ha Addo National Elephant Park into a 360 000 ha mega-park.

In addition the park includes a 120 000 ha (296 500 acre) marine reserve that includes islands that are home to the world's largest breeding populations of Cape gannets and second largest breeding population of African penguins.

Day visitors

• No booking is required for a day visit, unless the visitor wants to partake in organised activities.
• Day visitors can make use of a wide variety of activities, including wildlife viewing from their own vehicle, guided game drives, horse rides, hiking trails, the bird hide, the PPC Discovery Trail, picnic and braai sites, the shop and restaurant.
• Day trips can be made to the outlying sections of the park - the Zuurberg Mountains, Kabouga, Darlington Dam and Woody Cape.

Office and Gate hours

• Main camp reception is open from 07:00 to 19:00 daily
• Matyholweni reception is open from 07:00 to 17:00 daily, while the gate is open until 18:30.

The gates are staffed by security guards after closing time. Visitors with accommodation bookings can still enter and exit the gate after closing times provided they inform reception of this.

Activities available at no extra cost (except for entrance fee)

• Self-drive wildlife viewing in the main game area and Colchester area on 120 km of tourist roads suitable fro normal sedan cars.
• Zuurberg hiking trails: 1-hour and 3-hour trails available in the Zuurberg Mountains.
• PPC Discovery Trail: a short walk in the main camp, one loop suitable for wheelchairusers and visually-impaired visitors.
• SASOL Red Bishop Bird Hide: in the main camp (suitable for wheelchair-users).
• Floodlit waterhole: at main camp (suitable for wheelchair-users).
• Underground viewing hide at main camp (suitable for wheelchair-users).
• Picnic and braai site: at main camp and in the botanical reserve Jack's Picnic site off the southern access road.
• Swimming pool: at main camp, only for overnight guests.
• Restaurant and curio shop: at main camp. Restaurant Tel: 042 2338674.
• Holiday programmes for children: during July and December holidays